The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh unloaded on fellow right-leaning influencers Monday, accusing them of “gaslighting” their audiences after they rallied behind President Donald Trump’s sweeping military campaign against Iran.
After negotiations deteriorated and tensions spiked, U.S. forces carried out targeted attacks on Iran Saturday, with Trump declaring in a lengthy Truth Social address that the campaign, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, is striking the regime’s defense apparatus and atomic facilities. Walsh wrote in a Monday evening X post that many conservatives who now insist Tehran has waged war on the United States for nearly five decades had not made that case until the moment Trump launched strikes.
“I can’t take the gaslighting, guys. I really can’t. Conservatives are now running around saying ‘Iran has been waging war on us for 47 years.’ Okay then why didn’t any of you call for an attack on Iran at any point until now? Why didn’t you make a case for Trump “ending the war, not starting it” until precisely the moment when Trump did it? You and I both know that you are latching onto a talking point you never used until 45 seconds ago,” Walsh wrote.
In another post, sent earlier Monday, Walsh took aim at what he characterized as conflicting statements from the administration and its allies.
“So far we’ve heard that although we killed the whole Iranian regime, this was not a regime change war. And although we obliterated their nuclear program, we had to do this because of their nuclear program. And although Iran was not planning any attacks on the US, they also might have been, depending on who you ask,” Walsh wrote in the Monday morning post. “And although we are not fighting this war to free the Iranian people, they are now free, or might be, depending on who seizes power, and we have no idea who that will be. The messaging on this thing is, to put it mildly, confused.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back as she replied to Walsh’s earlier post and defended the administration’s objectives.
“President Trump released a statement laying out clear objectives to the American people for Operation Epic Fury. Let me reiterate them: Destroy the Iranian regime’s missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. Annihilate the Iranian regime’s Navy. Ensure the regime’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces,” Leavitt wrote on X Monday afternoon.
“Killing terrorists is good for America. [Forty-nine] of the most senior Iranian regime leaders – including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – have already been wiped off the face of the Earth so far in the opening strikes of Operation Epic Fury,” the press secretary added. “Finally, while Operation Midnight Hammer did obliterate Iran’s major nuclear sites, the regime was fully committed to rebuilding their nuclear program, and they REFUSED to make a deal, despite months of extensive talks and good faith efforts by President Trump’s top negotiators.”
U.S. and Israeli forces launched Operation Epic Fury early Saturday, striking Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and top regime officials and killing dozens of leaders, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Pentagon said Sunday that four American service members died and at least five others suffered injuries during the opening phase of combat operations.
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